It was on Wednesday, April 26, at 10am that the Ceramica del Conca group (Del Conca), a family-owned, leading Italian manufacturer of tile, had the official grand opening of its first U.S. tile production facility — Del Conca USA. According to Enzo Mularoni, CEO and founder of the Del Conca group, the company completed the project in record time, only 10 months after the initial groundbreaking. The inauguration of the facility saw several state officials, like Jimmy Matlock, Tenn. state representative, as well as suppliers, contractors and customers come together to celebrate. “The community is very happy,” said Mularoni. “The state representative said in his speech that this is a place which is business friendly and we’re happy for the economic opportunity this creates.”

According to Mularoni, the community was not only excited about economic gains, but the efficiencies of the plant itself. “This is the most modern facility in the world from our point of view. Laser guided vehicles move the tiles inside the facility and our 100 employees just control and verify what the machinery is doing, to make sure the quality is what it’s supposed to be.” Mularoni went on to state that the advanced technology is not only for manufacturing but allows the facility to recycle 100 percent of its processed water, dust and fired and unfired tile scraps.

Mularoni said this was the perfect time for the company to invest in a facility in the U.S. because of the improvements in the market and the overall growth of the construction industry, and that “that’s why our customers are happy to have us manufacturing tiles domestically.” However, investing in the States may have also been in the company’s DNA. “My father immigrated to the U.S. in 1949. He’d built his own business in a year and stayed for 11 more before moving back to San Marino,” he said. “But he was very proud of the experience he’d had and was always very positive when talking about the U.S., and so I think this influenced me when I chose to make this new company and facility, and to make it in the U.S. It’s a return after 60 years.”

According to Del Conca USA’s general manager for marketing and sales, Juan Molina, the next phase of the factory includes adding two more presses and a jumbo kiln that will help double its capacity inside of two years. In phase two, the facility will also add bigger sizes, technical products for the commercial market and throughbody tile for the residential market that the company is known for.

According to Molina, expansion in market share by delivering high levels of service and innovative design with advanced technology is an overall goal of the group and has been since the foundation of Del Conca’s parent company, Ceramica Faetano, by the Mularoni family.

“In 1979 porcelain was a new product, a new technology. The Faetana group was one of the first to believe in that technology and to invest in it by putting up one of the first porcelain tile factories in Italy — Del Conca.”

According to Molina, the purchase of the Pastorelli glazed porcelain factory in 2003 increased Del Conca’s production and allowed the company to continue to invest in new technologies. “All of the factories have seen increases in new technologies and now we’re here, with Del Conca USA,” he said.

Molina went on to state that, like all the companies in the group, Del Conca USA has very strong business ethics and will stay true to what it calls “the Del Conca standards”— delivering the latest in design, excellent quality and complete packages with the best customer service.

“We stay true to that because it comes from the top, from the family. Enzo says, ‘This is who we are, and we’re going to stay true to who we are regardless of what other companies may decide,’ because if we don’t provide that high level of service that our customers have come to expect, no matter how good your product is, it won’t work,” Molina said.

Aside from the vast technological advancements implemented in Del Conca USA’s manufacturing plant, it will also soon utilize online technologies in order to increase and support customer service. “Today’s business moves at a very quick pace. Customers today want to know the information in real time, and we’re going give them that,” Molina said.

In the coming months, Del Conca USA intends to implement an interactive website and online portal, allowing its customers to manage inventories in real time and to forecast sales better. The company will also provide its customers with same day shipping from the completely computerized production system. “All of these things are major components that allow us to provide our distributors the highest level of service,” Molina said.

The challenge the company now faces is staying competitive in a vastly changing and crowded market. “With this new digital technology it forces the group to look at business on a different level. Now it’s all about developing products and systems that become more innovative,” Molina said. In order to stay competitive and still keep to its ideals, Del Conca created Del Conca FAST —a patented free floating floor that does not require the use of insets, mortar or adhesive. “It’s this push into systems that give us an innovative and competitive edge,” Molina added.

In Mularoni’s closing speech at Del Conca USA’s grand opening, he said that it was in August of 2012 that Tennessee governor, Bill Haslan, called him and said, “You should come to our state because you will find a pro-business community, we will help you take on this wonderful project and you will have all the support you need from us.” Mularoni said that the warm welcome was not something he was used to receiving from the Italian bureaucracy and helped him make the decision to invest in Loudon, Tenn., where the facility now stands.

“What the governor said was true.... And I’m sure that my father would be very happy and proud of us, making this investment in the U.S.,” Mularoni said.